Creep Modelling for Complex Geometries with Highly Non-uniform Temperature Fields

Considering the hypothetical accident scenario of a core melt down for a Light Water Reactor the behaviour of the Reactor Pressure Vessel has to be investigated. Therefore the FOREVER-experiments (Failure Of Reactor VEssel Retention) are currently underway. These experiments are simulating the lower head of a reactor pressure vessel under the load of a melt pool with internal heat sources. The geometrical scale of the experiments is 1:10 compared to a common Light Water Reactor.
Due to the multiaxial creep deformation of the three-dimensional vessel with a non-uniform temperature field these experiments are an excellent possibility to validate numerical creep models which are developed on the basis of uniaxial creep tests.
Therefore a Finite Element model is developed on the basis of the comercial multi-purpose code ANSYS/Multiphysics®. Using the
Computational Fluid Dynamic module the temperature field within the vessel wall is evaluated. The transient structural mechanical
calculations are performed applying a creep model which is able to take into account great temperature, stress and strain variations within the model domain. The new numerical approach avoids the use of a single creep law with constants evaluated for a limited stress and temperature range. Instead of this a discrete creep data base is developed where pairs of strain and strain rate are stored for each temperature-stress combination. The creep strain increment is evaluated by linear or non-linear interpolation. Performing calculations for the FOREVER experiments gives a good opportunity to improve the simulation and understanding of real accident scenarios.